Although the odds might be against the Fordham point guard, there is no use questioning him. Robin has already bucked the odds so many times, you shouldn’t waste your doubts on him. So when he tells you, without sounding cocky, that he will play in the NBA, the only question is: With what team?

But first, he intends – is determined – to bring Fordham from Atlantic 10 doormat to champion.

“It’s going to happen. We’ll win the Atlantic 10 and get to the NCAA Tournament. It’s up to me to get this team to the next level,” Robin, a sophomore, said. “That’s the reason I came here, to raise this program. I don’t want to see it happen the year after I’m gone. I want to be here … and I will be. We’ll be on the back page before I’m gone.”

The fact that Robin, who will turn 22 on Feb. 22, has made it this far is a testament to his unique desire and belief in himself. He shunned the opportunity to play at bigger, more well-respected programs when he came out of Manhattan’s Rice High School. He decided to go to Fordham and resurrect the basketball team rather than blend in at St. John’s or Michigan State. And just as Rome wasn’t built in a day, the Rams haven’t taken the Atlantic 10 by storm since joining the conference in 1995. But thanks almost exclusively to Robin, they have become respectable.

“We built our program around him. Sometimes we have too many expectations of him, it’s unfair,” Fordham head coach Nick Macarchuk said. “But he wants all the pressure on him. That’s the kind of asset he has that makes people think he can play professionally. He’s one of those people that doesn’t accept the way things are. He will never shy away from any challenge that is put in front of him.”

Macarchuk knew that before he even had him on his team. After signing with Fordham, Robin – who admits that he didn’t put enough effort into his classes in high school – failed to meet the NCAA requirement on his SAT. During that summer, since the letter of intent that he signed wasn’t binding, other schools pursued Robin again. But Robin stayed true to his word and remained a Ram.

Instead of running off to a lesser institution, Robin studied for his SAT and qualified in November and began practicing with the Rams the next January, while redshirting the season. Since enrolling at Fordham, where you can’t take a golf course to stay eligible, Robin has had nary an academic problem. The same couldn’t be said on the court.

Despite averaging over 18 points a game and garnering Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year honors, the 6-foot-2 Robin had to suffer through a 6-21 season, including a miserable 2-14 record in the A-10.

“I thought we’d win every game. I thought I’d have that much of an impact. But I didn’t know what it took yet. It was hard, harder than I thought it would be,” Robin said. “This team had to learn to win at this level.”

The 1998-99 season began with much higher expectations, so when the Rams started off 2-2 against weak competition, things didn’t look good. Also distressing was Robin’s inconsistent play. The season appeared to bottom out in a 45-40 win over Yale on Dec. 4, when the Rams’ starting backcourt of Robin and Jason Harris was benched for the early part of the game.

“I wasn’t glad that I was taken out, but I understood. I wasn’t working hard enough at basketball,” Robin said. “I had to get my focus back. It fired me up.”

It wasn’t the usual college problems that hurt Robin. Rather, his parents, Claude and Susan – who had brought Bevon to the Bronx with them from the South American republic of Guyana in 1987 – began living apart in September after 32 years of marriage. They still attend every home game.

“I was so concerned that he might not be able to play well,” Susan said. “Bev is so close to his family, I knew how much it affected him,” Macarchuk said. “I was petrified. I just didn’t want to see him throw a whole year away.”

He hasn’t. With his parents working out their differences, Robin is concentrating on basketball again. He is now leading Fordham (10-10) with 17.7 points and 3.5 assists per game and scored a season-high 27 points in Sunday’s win over Duquesne. But although his play became better, the Rams lost their first six conference games.

“I definitely thought, ‘Here we go again,'” Robin said. “But we were close in most of those games, we just had to get over the hump.”

They finally did at the Garden, beating St. Bonaventure on Jan. 24. Since starting 0-6, the Rams have won three of their last four in the A-10 and are now 3-7 in the conference, with at least four winnable games left.

“At long last we can dig into home plate and let the opponent throw its best pitch and expect to hit it,” Macarchuk said. “Before, we couldn’t. And that change is mostly because of Bevon.”

Robin’s goals remain loftier.

“I have to make it to the NBA. After all my family has been through, I have to do it,” Robin said. “Basketball is basketball. I think I can play with anyone in the country. The only difference between me and [UConn’s] Khalid El-Amin or [St. John’s’] Erick Barkley is wins and losses.”